


Origin

by Sarita1046



Category: Split (2016)
Genre: Child Abuse, Dissociative Identity Disorder, Gen, Past Sexual Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-10
Updated: 2017-02-10
Packaged: 2018-09-23 07:24:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9646184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarita1046/pseuds/Sarita1046
Summary: A reflection on how two of Kevin's most dominant personalities first emerged.





	

**Author's Note:**

> After seeing all those flashbacks on Casey in the film, I felt the need to explore Kevin's backstory in a bit more depth. The material draws from an interview with James McAvoy, where he describes the context in which he believes Dennis and Hedwig first originated.
> 
> I hope I don't scar anyone too badly!
> 
> Musical inspiration: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFMrelQ_knk&index=273&list=PL75C4278C7030C590

Dennis and Hedwig would often bicker about who had emerged first to protect Kevin. 

“Duh, it was me!” the nine-year-old would insist loudly in Kevin’s mind. “I’m the youngest of us all. I’ve been with Kevin forever! Plus I've always been the one with the guts to do what Kevin never could.”

That whiny stutter he took on whenever he was trying to prove his point really grated on Dennis's nerves. 

“You always make the same mistakes and messes that get Kevin into trouble,” Dennis retorts gruffly. “He needed someone else to protect him from…from her.”

Mentioning Kevin’s mother was usually the best tactic to trigger Hedwig’s short tension span to switch – out of deliberate avoidance or fear, Dennis didn’t really mind. So long as the kid wasn’t trying to steal the light. 

They all certainly provided different perspectives when it came to Kevin. Perspectives not only on how Kevin viewed the world, but on how Kevin’s life with his mother could be viewed from so many angles. 

Whether the cunning Patricia or the feisty Jade or orderly Dennis or extroverted Barry…they all came back with one word:

Torture. 

"Quit bein' a little bitch," their mother would shout at him when he'd squeal against the red-hot bite of metal, "You don't know the meaning of real pain." 

And his mother knew where it hurt the most - inside the mouth, where no one else could see. And if he was truly bad, lower...such had been the lesson following Kevin's one and only attempt at escaping her treatment. Hedwig's idea, of course. Their mother would sooner kill them than let them run away. She'd made it her purpose to - as she described it - mold him into the type of man she had never had the good fortune of meeting. 

Hurrying home from school one day before his mother returned from the diner, Kevin and Hedwig decided to bury all the coat hangers down at the train yard. The hangers had just barely fit inside Kevin's backpack, but they managed to bury them and run home before she came back. 

No matter though. The very next day, Kevin returned to find his mother home early, expressionless, with a brand new set of hangers.

"Put these away," she'd deadpanned, handing him all but one hanger. "Then get straight back here." 

Thus the only choice became to build up the strength to bear it all until he was big enough to get away. 

Nearly thirty years they'd spent constructing walls of steel in his mind - a wall for each of them. That was when Dennis and soon after Patricia had understood...the more pain a person endured, the more worthy they truly were. If his mother could understand how much he was truly suffering, she'd respect him. But clearly, his agony wasn't enough. These days, he sure knew it was more than many people had felt...wondered if his father had realized the same and fled. Yet this pain was the only guarantee of strength. Of being taken seriously. So why then, did people who were never broken get to make all the rules? Decide who would be accepted and who would be ridiculed? 

It wasn't long before the other children at school began whispering about the fact that he still had a speech impediment at age thirteen. That hardly mattered though, when his mother had made it clear long ago how his speech and clumsiness were the bane of her existence. A soft kid who would rather draw than play sports. How he always wore at least three layers, despite the weather outside. He was used to prying eyes by the time others started talking. 

By that time, he'd already stopped growing excited every time the train's cry sounded from several blocks over. 

Yet suffering sometimes comes with a flip-side. It was Kevin’s mother who taught him to associate pain with the ‘good feelings’ Hedwig soon came to describe to the others. Crawling into bed with her - to follow her wishes and keep her safe at night after his father had left them. Or waking up with her in bed beside him. Their mistake - Dennis, Hedwig and Kevin had actually initially expected this novel display of affection might just be the turning of a new leaf from their mother. 

Dennis, however, being an adult now – realized how utterly _wrong_ such interactions were between mother and son.

He knew - now he knew. He hated how he still craved that feminine touch so badly - how women still had such a devastating effect on him and the boy. Thinking back, that shame was likely what had driven him to let Barry dominate the System for so long. Barry who was immune to the allure of women... 

Indeed, despite all the ways in which Barry seemed to emanate stability, Dennis and the others remained highly disturbed by his odd inclination toward conflating pain with pleasure. Somehow the rest of the System had avoided inheriting this bizarre affect. 

Patricia had always deemed him and Hedwig ‘lecherous’ for their desires – scolding Dennis for not knowing better and all but pitying Hedwig for having knowledge beyond his years. Whenever Kevin surfaced and thought too much about this weakness and its origins, so would begin the wishes to end it all...

_And the others simply wouldn't stand for that._

In any case, they weren't _entirely_ alone. Dr. Fletcher had always seemed to understand. She'd never chastised his own or Hedwig's feelings. Nor had she ever laughed at Kevin's expense. She had been the one to convince them all that they could function normally in society, despite years of getting into trouble due to constant fidgeting in class and falling ill during grade school and high school. The other doctors and school nurses had never shown concern over his constant belly aches, brushing them off as _nervous stomach._

Not to mention the _imaginary friend_ he always seemed to be chatting with, toward the end of grade school. Hedwig, of course. 

Dennis had certainly formed first within Kevin's mind, if not as his own entity. 

Hedwig, on the other hand, had emerged all at once on a single summer afternoon. He simply appeared like the brother Kevin had always wished he'd had to distract his mother's attention. 

Kevin had just turned nine when his mother first promised to forego the pain of the hanger...if he succeeded in pleasing her.

Their father had left on the train three years prior - he'd promised Kevin he'd be back as soon as he found a way to make a better life for Kevin and his mother. Kevin had remained hopeful for years that his father - a brave soldier in the army - would return for them. Yet in actuality, he'd chosen to leave both of them - and so it was now Kevin’s duty to care for his mother. He still remembers the heat of the sun...his mother was already wearing so little as it was, lounging out in the backyard. She'd beckoned to him, gently for once. Not screaming, red-faced and gnashing her teeth. But softly. 

"Good boy, you brought the beer. Now come press it here, help keep me cool. Just like that..." _Our little secret._

A monster one moment, an angel the next. 

Since that day, under her instruction, Hedwig would please their mother for Kevin with caresses and kisses in all the right places. Anywhere she asked, anytime. Anything to keep her calm. Everywhere but the lips, that is. Where it’s supposed to happen between adults. 

"That's how you avoid pregnancy," she had explained. "For Christ sake, never again." 

These days, Dennis understood the finer details, though Hedwig still seemed convinced that kissing on the mouth was the first step in making children. It still unnerved them how frozen Hedwig remained in the naiveté of Kevin's childhood perceptions. 

As long as he made no mistakes – as long as he did exactly as he was told, he wouldn’t be sliced with the hanger’s tip. The epitome of positive reinforcement. 

_Musky, sweet and salty all at once. Like weird taffy._ Such was Hedwig's description of the scent. 

All the germs in the world couldn't make Dennis shudder more. And yet, when compulsive cleanliness joined with fulfilling Mother's perverse wishes, Dennis and Hedwig spared Kevin from several years of physical torture. 

It was truly a shame that now Dr. Fletcher refused to believe there was something more going on with them these days. She was even the one who'd originally become intrigued by his school counselor's concern over the severe vacillation between energetic Hedwig and timid Kevin. How he'd be chronically obsessively compulsive and often frequently ill while still Kevin, only to suddenly recover into a spunky, artistic persona when Hedwig would take over - oftentimes in under an hour. He was never able to articulate this difference himself back then... 

The counselor had actually expressed genuine interest in helping him, though he'd soon proven beyond her abilities. He took some comfort in their sessions during middle school. Her name was Lydia and she was from England. Kevin and Hedwig both liked her accent. So much gentler than his mother's abrasive tone. 

Dr. Fletcher had taken over from there, her interest in the concept of D.I.D. having long since been piqued. Because Hedwig preferred to please their mother and avoid the hanger, he'd surface whenever Dr. Fletcher brought up the possibility to Kevin of showing the oral lesions on his tongue to authority, so that he could legally be placed somewhere away from his mother. 

It wasn't until age thirteen that Hedwig finally heeded Kevin's wishes and seized an opportunity at the dinner table one evening. He had joined his mother and her coworker from the diner. Nice man, it seemed. Sam, was it? He had asked to meet Kevin. It wasn't five minutes in before Hedwig blurted, "Sam, if you want to know how my mom likes it, just ask me. I'll tell you in private." 

They couldn't recall if Kevin's tongue had ever been more damaged. 

Hedwig stayed in charge until the next morning. As dawn hit and before their mother awoke, he bit back the pain in his mouth and called the police. 

"Never could keep a secret," was all their mother had uttered when he was led away. She didn't glance at him once. 

That was the last time any of them laid eyes on Kevin's mother. 

Dr. Fletcher then arranged for their transfer in and out of homes until Kevin could legally work at age sixteen and move out on his own. Soon after being officially diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder at age nineteen, he'd relocated to Philadelphia to be nearer to Dr. Fletcher. 

Still, it would take another fifteen years of on and off therapy before they were able to find a steady voice with Barry to begin contemplating discussing Mother directly. And Dr. Fletcher was patient, content to focus on the aspects of each of his developing personas in the meantime. She always had been highly invested in her research. 

And he was now an adult, to be taken seriously. He had a job that had made him physically powerful and provided a healthy outlet for his frustrations. He was more fit now than ever, compensating for the petite stature he'd been dealt growing up. Though he still longed to enlist with hopes of running into his father. Little chance of passing the psychological exam though, even on a good day. Even if none of his alters surfaced to sell out Kevin, the PTSD would have. He still winced at loud noises, and life in the military wouldn't exactly be devoid of those. 

He'd maintained his tradition of visiting the local train station. The cry of arriving trains was somehow cathartic - though they all subtly noted it was more of a comfort activity than actually expecting to meet anyone there - until recently, that is. 

Kevin's mother never even attempted to reach out. They truly had been a burden lifted from her. They'd learned so much from her - Dennis's own compulsion to scrub everything raw, including himself. Kevin, Barry, Patricia and even Hedwig found a sort of solemn solace in ironing clothes. Life with her had turned them into a complete mess and yet, she likely never even gave him a second thought. Andy why should she? They'd called the cops on her, after all.... 

Whenever Kevin took the light, that realization made him cry himself dry with both pain and relief. 

But he'd left behind his home in Brooklyn's outskirts to the bustle of Philadelphia. His mother had passed away in 2014 from alcoholism - and he should finally feel free. He was the grown-up now. 

The date was September 18. 

Of course, this fact meant he was also allowed to feel this curiosity for women - Dennis would tell himself to quell any guilt or embarrassment he may have felt. It also meant that women - that people - should have stopped making fun of him. 

Yet Kevin and Dennis still held women on that pedestal of "look, don't touch". Hedwig didn't shy away, but the adult alters always seemed to. Because no, he'd never been with a woman. Not successfully. A few failed attempts at bar encounters had turned him off to the possibility. He never knew who'd be the best to take the light under such a circumstance - none of them had been able to overlook the fact that these women reminded him of the sloppiness his mother had shown when she would drink too much. 

Though now, every time he'd even consider it, flashes of the hanger came flooding back...what if he did something wrong when trying to please another woman? 

There was that one time they all shuddered to recall, when Ian had managed to accompany a girl home. He'd had a fair amount to drink which had helped at first. Still, they'd barely moved beyond cuddling when Hedwig had emerged in full-on duty mode, prompting a frightened and abrupt rejection. 

No control or order, as per usual. Dennis's first step after emerging fully upon their arrival to Philadelphia had been to sheer off his hair. A fresh start with less mess to clean up every day - especially since Kevin had developed the nervous habit of tugging out his hair. In the end, they'd ended up with the same hairstyle as Kevin's father had always maintained for enlistment. 

They all approved of Kevin's job, however. Being around animals was so much easier than being around people. They never judged or screamed at you. Even when the lions and tigers roared, the sounds were devoid of words that could cut and sting. Not to mention they were safe behind bars...they couldn't touch him. 

In fact, it was the animals he fed and helped guard that first made him realize the concept of the Beast was even possible. To stop thinking and simply live based on instinct - to have the power to drop all inhibitions and fight adversaries without holding back. 

The only downside were the humans visiting the zoo. And just what was it about him that had made those two girls think he could be trifled with? It must have been the staring. His mother had always scolded him for gawking at things that interested him. Then again, looking back, that could have simply been jealousy on her part...

She would have been enraged by the sight of him touching another's breast. Yet what bothered the System was how even the touching of a female body during adulthood hadn't been on their own terms. 

As it was, both Dennis and Hedwig had grown quite fond of the three very different and delectable flavors that awaited them back home. And they were all allowed to admire them - from afar, anyway. Ordering the three new girls to strip down, watching them drop to their knees as they prepared to clean the bathroom tile...Dennis had never felt so in control before. So different from, say, Jade who simply wanted to socialize with them. 

Makes it easier to take them off the pedestal if you're one of them. 

The sensual confusion, however, had originated with Hedwig. Even with the girls they now held captive, the boy was taken. To cuddle and kiss a pretty girl who actually treated him gently. 

They all maintained that Dennis had manifested as Kevin’s obsessive meticulousness to avoid the physical torture that began at age three – the incentive to avoid any chance of that searing hot metal, the rancid taste of blood…

Yet Dennis’s persona never truly realized itself until their mother passed. When Kevin was finally 'free' to navigate society with his fractured mind. He'd needed a mature persona to set everything in order. Someone he'd wanted his father to be. 

In time after moving out of his mother's house, Kevin’s tongue healed enough so he eventually recovered from the lisp his mother despised so much. Hedwig’s lilt had remained the sole reminder of those wounds…along with their father's habit of ending sentences with 'etcetera'.

_Abandon your family, your son, etcetera,_ Dennis thought bitterly. The boy truly was a sort of time capsule for Kevin, he concluded, running his tongue swiftly over his lower lip. 

His father had had brains though, that was for sure. Orwell's eidetic memory and unquenchable thirst for knowledge were proof enough of that. Why he'd settled for their mother was anyone's guess. They'd suspected it had something to do with how Mother called him, "A pretty little mistake." Always the disappointment till she decided she had a use for him. 

At least their father escaped in the end. They all only wished they knew where to...back to the service, most likely. 

Dennis inhaled deeply and ran a hand over his close-cropped hair as he opened his eyes and set out the gate to purchase a nice bouquet of flowers to take to the station. Kevin’s mother – their mother – always liked when they’d bring her flowers. Especially Hedwig from the field by the tracks. 

Foolish woman - didn’t even realize it was Hedwig and not Kevin. Hedwig who showed such exuberance and resilience whenever young Kevin threatened to become a husk of himself. 

But the time had come to settle adult affairs. No more art or games. Above all, Dennis woild make sure that Kevin never acted on his suicidal thoughts. They'd all survived to this point for a reason. 

Hedwig and Barry had done their job. Now they could finally rest in their seats beside Kevin and watch whilst Dennis and Patricia used the Beast to protect Kevin and all like him from the world. 

With their help, Kevin could finally be a soldier like his father, only better - a warrior to rally all the broken.

**Author's Note:**

> While I prefer to see Dennis, Kevin, etc. with Casey or some other non-abuser, something pushed me to write this. I definitely feel like we could have seen more of how all Kevin's personalities developed.
> 
> Comments and alternate ideas are welcome. M. Night left much open to interpretation. :)


End file.
